"Conventional wisdom suggests that, just like Gingerbread in 2010 and ICS in 2011, the next version of Android could make an appearance sometime in the fourth quarter of 2012. But the current state of the Android ecosystem indicates that this might not be the best course of action for Google, its OEMs or their customers. In this article, we'll take a brief look at why Google should stick with Android 4.1 until 2013, and push Android forward with hardware, not software later in the year." Fully agreed. Give the ecosystem some time to catch its breath. I mean, it's not as if the competition has anything groundbreaking up its sleeve - iOS and Android are so close these days.

"cuz you're probably never gonna see another Nexus device on that network again

You can't just buy a prepaid/postpaid SIM card for Verizon and put it in your Nexus? "
No you can't. Verizon isn't a GSM operator. CDMA operators are archaic. You have to activate service through the operator and if the MEID (CDNA's equivalent of the phone's IMEI) isn't in their database of approved devices, they won't activate it and you'll end up with a pocket sized WiFi-only tablet.